SOMERSET — With prom season just around the corner, Somerset Berkley Regional High School officials and student leaders are hoping their students make wise choices in celebrating their night out.

On the school’s front lawn near County Street, sits a wrecked Lexus sedan. Its front end had been smashed in, shattered glass and the drivers’ side door sitting in the passenger seat.

Inside, school leaders held an assembly on the subject of prom safety on Thursday afternoon. It began with Principal Jahmal Mosley asking some lighthearted questions.

“How many of you are going to buy a tux?” Mosley asked the boys. Then he followed with a question for the young women. “How many of you are going to get your hair done?” The majority of their hands went up.

Mosley proceeded: “I want this to be a fun night for you. I want this to be a night you will always remember. I also want you to know, I also don’t want this to be your last night, either,” he said, reminding students that he and other adults had been in high school once.

Beth Kleinen, a senior and peer leader at the school, urged her peers to celebrate responsibly.

“We’ve done so much so fast in these years. We’ve done so much to get this far,” Kleinen said. “It will be the beginning of the rest of your lives as adults and a celebration that you want to be able to remember the next day.”

Kleinen addressed juniors in the room first: “Prom is a celebration of the calm before the storm. But the storm is you. You are going to take the world by storm.”

She urged seniors to also enjoy it, but make good decisions.

“Life and prom are whatever you decide to make of your experience,” she said, adding, “We have the ability to take everything we learned, take the knowledge and maturity to make our lives meaningful. But we can’t do that if we don’t have a life to go to.”

School Resource Officer Gerard Guimond reminded students of the law.

For instance, they don’t have to be in a moving vehicle to be considered driving under the influence. And the legal definition of impaired driving does not just include alcohol use, Guimond said. Driving can be impaired by other substances, such as marijuana and some prescription drugs.

For those caught drinking underage, the legal blood alcohol limit is .02, well below the legal limit of .08 for those 21 and older. For a male who weighs 160 pounds, in only takes two beers in one hour to reach .02. It takes four beers to reach .08.

Page 2 of 2 - Then there’s the risk of additional charges like manslaughter by a motor vehicle, a felony, and child endangerment.

“Be smart, stay safe,” Guimond said.

Students Hailey Hastings, Mackenzie Johnson and Jessica Roderigues produced an animated short video that included statistics and facts on teen drug and alcohol use and teen pregnancies. For example, car crashes are the leading cause of death for young people, and 50 percent of teens “have never considered how pregnancy will affect their lives.”

Despite the sobering facts, the assembly did end on a positive note, with a montage of “promposal” pictures, which show students asking potential prom dates out to the dance in clever ways, from a pizza with the pepperoni arranged to spell “prom,” to lights spelled out with those four letters and storefront marquees popping the big question.

Peer Leader faculty co-advisor Sam Adams made his own promposal at the end of the montage to fellow co-advisor Nicole Copeland. It read “Miss Copeland Prom?”

Adams said the goal of the assembly was to encourage students to celebrate prom in an “upbeat” way.

The event was organized by the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization, explained the group’s chairwoman Melissa Terra. It was modeled after similar accident awareness and responsible prom enjoyment events like those held at the school in the 1980s and ‘90s, Terra said.

“This was something that was an annual tradition,” Terra said, adding that it had been revived in recent years.

The event comes less than a week after a former Somerset Berkley student, 18-year-old Jonathan Reed, died in a one-car crash in Easton.

Mosley said the loss has impacted both faculty and students.

“Our kids are still very upset by the loss,” said Mosley, adding that the school has made counseling and other services available to those students who may need it.

Though close in timing, the event itself was planned “prior to the tragedy,” Mosley said.